Chapter 2

Rivaille frowned, his hooded eyes analyzing the other male. "You're drunk." He said finally.

Eren blinked at that and just shook his head, chuckling a bit. "I've always hated alcohol." He replied to him.

Rivaille narrowed his eyes at him, his attention being drawn elsewhere when he heard German shouting outside the tent, watching as the male named Eren turned back and yelled something in return. He then backed away, keeping his Torah close when a couple more Germans came in, neither of them seeming as gentle and trustworthy as Eren.

"Jaeger, what are you doing speaking to this thing?" One of them asked in the deep, guttural language that none of the Jews in the tent could understand, making them all even more frightened for their lives.

"He's not a thing, his name's Levi. Or, Rivaillle, I guess." Eren replied to him irritably, frowning.

The two new Germans looked at each other before laughing a bit. "Ah, I see now. Little Eren's getting the desires of a man that come with puberty. Well, I can't say he's really my type, too small. But, he'd make a good bed warmer for you, kid." One of them said with a guffaw before clapping Eren's back. The brunet said nothing, looking as if he was suppressing the urge to punch him in the jaw.

"We move out to the camps tomorrow morning, Jaeger. Make sure to get them into the trucks. We should get them to Drancy tomorrow afternoon. If you really want keep this one safe, put your mark on him soon." The other soldier said to him, patting his shoulder.

Eren nodded and watched them go, turning back to group of nervous looking Frenchmen. "You'll be taken to the Drancy concentration camp tomorrow. Mr. Rivaille, I promised you I'd keep you safe. It's going to hurt, but I have no other choice right now. I need you to come with me and trust that I'll keep you safe." He said to them, holding a hand out to the shorter man.

Rivaille looked down at the hand, seeming hesitant to take it. "What will you do to me?"

"I have to brand you on the back. That way, they'll know you're being favored and pardoned from your crimes." He replied.

"What crime did I commit?"

"You're a Jew. According to them, that's crime enough."

Rivaille frowned and analyzed Eren's face a bit more before deciding he could trust him, taking his hand and letting him pull him up to his feet.

"Now, I'm going to brand you, then I'll let you sit off the pain. I know it's cold, but you'll have to sleep in my tent tonight in your underwear and make it look like we just got done making love. That way it's believable when the higher ups come to wake us up tomorrow morning." Eren explained to him softly as they walked, holding onto his forearm in the attempt to appear rough on the shorter man so no one would question them.

Levi nodded, as he was lead away into a larger, far nicer tent with a fire going behind it. Eren lead him out to the back by the fire, looking sad and horrified about what he was going to do. He handed his old corporal a rag to bite on.

"Can you please take your shirt off, sir? I'm so sorry about this, Mr. Rivaille." He asked softly, knowing he'd never forgive himself for putting the other man through this kind of pain.

Levi nodded and moved to unclip his suspenders in the front, letting them fall over his shoulders and down to the ground. He then untucked his shirt and unbuttoned it, stripping it off.

Eren took the brand out of the fire and let it cool a bit for the sake of the other man. "Bite onto the towel now." He said to him. When he did, he bit his lip and pressed the brand to the small of his back, burning the sigil that contained the old Wings of Freedom sigil onto his skin. He felt his heart break for the poor, unlucky man when he heard him scream out in agony around the towel.

He took the brand off before moving to press ice to the area, kneeling down and wrapping an arm around Rivaille as the other man panted and leaned against him.

"You're safe now. Now I can keep you safe from everything. I'm going to keep you safe, Corporal." Eren said to him softly, hugging him close and gently helping him up from the ground, carrying him with his discarded shirt into the tent. He then moved to gently lay him down, changing out of his own uniform and stripping down to just his underwear with the other man.

"I still don't know how I know you, but good night, Eren Jaeger." Rivaille said softly after stripping off his shoes, socks, and pants, setting them all aside in a neatly folded little pile.

"I hope you recognize me soon, sir. Goodnight, Rivaille." Eren replied with a small smile, watching as he laid down before moving to lay down beside him, fitting his body around the other's and covering them both with the blankets, his arms wrapped around the other's middle.

"Jaeger…. are you spooning me?" Rivaille asked with a cock of his eyebrow.

"Sorry, sir, but if people come in here tomorrow, we have to make it look like we slept together." Eren replied with a soft flush of his cheeks.

"Well, I knew that. You never told me you'd be spooning me, though." Rivaille replied with a sigh.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry, sir. I just figured it went without saying is all. I'll tell you next time, though." Eren replied, rather flustered.

"It's fine. Just shut up and let me sleep." Rivaille replied testily before leaning back against the other man, mentally noticing how well their bodies seemed to fit together.

"Oh, alright, Corporal. Good night, then! I hope you sleep well." Eren replied, still a bit flustered.
"Jaeger, I swear to God, I'm going to tie your hands together and shove a sock in your mouth. Shut the hell up."

"Right, sorry sir.
"Jaeger…."

"I'll be quiet now, sir."

Rivaille nodded and remained silent for a bit before smiling softly, relieved to find that Eren seemed to be a man of his word. He let his eyes fall shut before falling asleep against the other man.

He slept peacefully for a few hours before he began to dream, images of people from what had gone down in history as the Titanic Age flashing in front of his eyes. It made no sense, though, at first. It wasn't until a bit later until he started distinguishing the faces. Everything that had once been a blur of faces and images seemed to finally stop at one event. He was in some sort of courtroom, standing off to the side, watching a trial. He was waiting for something, a signal of some kind. When he got it, he moved to vault himself over the railing before walking up to the kneeling, chained figure he recognized as Eren Jaeger. He took one look at the boy before moving to bring his leg out and land a rather hard knee to his face, knocking a tooth out of his mouth and bouncing across the floor. He then continued to kick and knee the other until he'd started to cough blood, forcing his head down to the floor with a foot.

"It's just my personal opinion, but pain is the best tool for discipline. You don't need to be educated by words. You need training. You've fallen low enough that you're easy to kick around anyway." He heard himself saying before everything went black and he woke up, bolting to sit up.

He panted, a cold sweat on his forehead, his brain feeling like there'd been a wall inside it that had just been breached as all the memories came flooding back.

Eren woke up when he felt the other move against him so suddenly. "Mr. Rivaille, what's the matter?" he asked softly.

"It's Levi. With an L." He replied softly, confusing the other man further before passing out and falling back asleep on the bed next to him.